Panasonic ups operation rate at Chinese air cleaner plant

TOKYO, Feb. 8 (Kyodo) — Panasonic Corp. said Friday it has raised the operation rate of its air cleaner manufacturing plant in China's Guangdong Province by 50 percent in January from a year earlier after product sales more than doubled amid serious air pollution in the country.

Highly efficient devices made by Japanese manufacturers have been well-received in China, as they are equipped to remove so-called PM2.5, hazardous particulate matter below 2.5 microns, or 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter, in diameter, found in high concentrations in toxic smog that covered 25 percent of China in January.

Sales of Panasonic's air cleaners surged 2.2-fold in January.

Sharp Corp. and Daikin Industries Ltd. also recorded big increases in sales of their air cleaners in China.